Enhanced Data Transfer Initiation Using Image Recognition

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for improving ease in initiating information transfers between devices. A user of a communications device accesses an image of a target recipient. With that recipient in view in the image, the user selects the portion of the screen where the recipient is displayed in the image. Pattern recognition is performed to extract one or more features of the selected portion of the screen as a recognized pattern. That recognized pattern is compared against multiple stored patterns that are associated with contacts in contact lists and/or other types of databases. Once a match is found, the user is prompted to confirm the identified recipient corresponding to the matching pattern and the data to transfer. Once confirmed, the data transfer is initiated based on the automatically determined recipient information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to electronic communicationsbetween computing devices, and more particularly to the initiation ofdata transfer of different types of information to other computingdevices based on image pattern recognition.

BACKGROUND

Transferring information between devices typically involves entering anaddress for the targeted recipient, e.g., an address that some deviceassociated with the target recipient is able to access, or by locatingthe address in a contact list, followed by entering in details of theinformation that is sought to be sent. Further, the information may besought to be sent to one or more targeted recipients within a closeproximity to the transferor. Entering in (or looking up) the address forthe one (or more targeted recipients) can be cumbersome and subject tomore opportunities for error such as in manual address entry.

Thus, there is a need for techniques to improve the ability for multiplecommunications or computing devices to determine targeted recipientaddresses and initiate/complete the transfer of information with greaterease.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary communications environment accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary server device according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5A is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5B is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6A is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6B is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications deviceaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forenhanced image-based information exchange according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forenhanced image-based information exchange according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating an embodiment of a method forenhanced image-based information exchange according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of a computingsystem.

Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are bestunderstood by referring to the detailed description that follows. Itshould be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identifylike elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, whereinshowings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of thepresent disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below, in connection with theappended drawings, is intended as a description of variousconfigurations and is not intended to represent the only configurationsin which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detaileddescription includes specific details for the purpose of providing athorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may bepracticed without these specific details. In some instances, well-knownstructures and components are shown in block diagram form in order toavoid obscuring such concepts.

The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and computer programproducts for improving the ease with which information transfer isinitiated between recipients and their devices. According to embodimentsof the present disclosure, an image displayed on a screen may beselected as a way to obtain contact information for the entityrepresented by the image.

When a user of a mobile communications device desires to transfer datato another entity, such as a person, the user may access an image ofthat person (e.g., via a live feed, video, or static picture). Forexample, if the person is near the user, the user may point an imagecapturing device toward that person. With that person in view in theimage, the user may select the portion of the screen where the person isdisplayed in the image. In response, pattern recognition is performed toextract one or more features of the person as a recognized pattern. Thatrecognized pattern is compared against multiple stored patterns that areassociated with contacts in contact lists and/or other types ofdatabases (e.g., transactional databases).

Once a match is found, the user may be prompted to confirm theidentified recipient that corresponds to the matching pattern. The usermay also be prompted to confirm or modify the data to be transferred,for example if it was a default set of data to begin with. Once the datato be transferred is confirmed, the data transfer is initiated based onthe automatically determined recipient information.

Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of an exemplary communicationsenvironment 100 is illustrated. The communications environment 100 mayinclude a number of mobile communications devices 102, one or morenetworks 108, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) 110, and aprocessing server 112. The communications environment 100 illustrated inFIG. 1 is simplified for sake of illustration.

The communications environment 100 may support operation on multiplecarriers (e.g., waveform signals of different frequencies for wirelesscommunications, or wired communications). As an example, thecommunications environment 100 may be a multi-carrier LTE networkcapable of efficiently allocating network resources. The communicationsenvironment 100 is one example of a network to which various aspects ofthe disclosure apply.

The communications environment 100 includes one or more mobile computingor communications devices 102 (referred to herein simply as mobilecommunications devices), illustrated in FIG. 1 as mobile communicationsdevices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c. The mobile communications devices 102a, 102 b, and 102 c may be, for example, User Equipment (UEs). Themobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c may each also bereferred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, etc. Amobile communications device 102 may be a cellular phone, a smartphone,a personal digital assistant, a wireless modem, a laptop computer, atablet computer, a tag (e.g., RFID tag), etc., to name just a fewexamples. The mobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c maybe location-aware, for example by including circuitry and/or software toenable the mobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c todetermine their own locations.

For example, one or more of the mobile communications devices 102 a, 102b, and 102 c may include circuitry and/or software that enable them tobe in communication with the GNSS 110 in order to determine location.The GNSS 110 may be, for example, the Global Positioning System (GPS),Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, or some other such system that enables themobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c to determinegeolocation information from signals provided by individual satellitesof the GNSS 110. The circuitry and/or software of mobile communicationsdevices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c may additionally or alternatively enablelocation determination based on other parameters, such as base stationtriangulation, time of flight measurements, etc.

The mobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c maycommunicate with each other (as well as other devices) via one or moreconnections. One or more of the mobile communications devices 102 a, 102b, and 102 c may establish connections to each other via the network108. For example, the mobile communications device 102 a may establishthe connection 106 a with the network 108, the mobile communicationsdevices 102 b may establish the connection 106 b with the network 108,and the mobile communications device 102 c may establish the connection106 c with the network 108. For example, the mobile communicationsdevice 102 a may communicate with mobile communications device 102 b,via the network 108, by way of the connections 106 a and 106 b (e.g.,the connection 106 a constitutes an uplink to the network 108 and theconnection 106 b a downlink from the network 108). Similarly, the mobilecommunications device 102 may communicate with mobile communicationsdevice 102 c, via the network 108, by way of connections 106 a and 106c. Similar examples apply with respect to the other mobilecommunications devices 102 b and 102 c.

The network 108 may be, for example, a core network, an access network,other network, and/or any combination of networks. The network 108 mayinclude one or more base stations. For example, one or more the basestations may include an evolved Node B (eNodeB). A base station may alsobe referred to as a base transceiver station or an access point. Therecould be one to many base stations, as well as be an assortment ofdifferent types such as macro, pico, and/or femto base stations. Thebase stations may also communicate with one another directly orindirectly, such as via network 108. The network 108 may be an LTEnetwork or a WiFi network, to name just a few examples. The mobilecommunications devices 102 may use the network 108 to convey the datacommunications between them and the processing server 112 according toembodiments of the present disclosure. The mobile communications devices102 may use one or more elements of the network 108 to discover eachother, while in other embodiments the mobile communications devices 102may discover each other through near field communications (NFC) orBluetooth ad-hoc connections for initial session negotiation andcontinue communication via NFC or Bluetooth, or alternatively vianetwork 108.

In addition or alternatively, the mobile communications devices 102 maybe capable of establishing peer-to-peer (P2P) sessions with one or moreother devices, such as mobile communications device 102 a establishing aP2P session 104 a/104 b with one or both of the mobile communicationsdevices 102 b and 102 c. Similarly, the mobile communications device 102b may be capable of establishing a P2P session 104 b/104 c with one orboth of the mobile communications devices 102 a and 102 c. Similarly,the mobile communications device 102 c may be capable of establishing aP2P session 104 a/104 c with one or both of the mobile communicationsdevices 102 a and 102 b.

For example, the mobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 cmay be capable of (e.g., includes one or more associated transceiversfor) linking to each other via device-to-device (D2D) links, such thatthe P2P sessions 104 may constitute D2D links. As another example, themobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c may be capable of(e.g., includes one or more associated transceivers for) connecting viaBluetooth or NFC with each other, to name just a few examples. Themobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b, and 102 c may all establishthe same types of P2P sessions 104 with each other (e.g., all using thesame linking technology/protocols), or alternatively may use a varietyof technologies/protocols in order to establish the P2P sessions 104 inthe communications environment 100.

The processing server 112 may provide one or more services to the mobilecommunications devices 102 as well as other devices and entities. In anembodiment, the processing server 112 may be a payment processing serverthat may process one or more transactions on behalf of one or moreclients, such as one or more users of one or more of the mobilecommunications devices 102. For example, the processing server 112 mayfacilitate processing of only payment transactions and/or online invoicetransactions between multiple parties. The processing server 112 mayfurther include one or more interfaces to external payment processingfacilities to further process payments. Although illustrated as oneserver, it will be recognized that processing server 112 may be astandalone system or multiple systems operating in cooperation.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a user of a mobilecommunications device 102 may initiate and complete a transfer of datato one or more other mobile communications devices 102 using one or moreimages to facilitate selection of contact information for the transfer.Mobile communications device 102 a will be used herein as a specificexample for purposes of discussion. According to embodiments of thepresent disclosure, a user of the mobile communications device 102 a mayaccess an image that contains one or more entities within it. Forexample, the user may access a picture or video stored on the mobilecommunications device 102 a, such as in an image gallery, or that isstored on some external device and accessible e.g. via the network 108(such as the Internet, and one or more servers hosting one or moresocial networking sites). The one or more entities may include one ormore persons, one or more logos, text (e.g., a textual graphic), and/orsome combination of the above to name just a few examples.

Upon accessing the image on the mobile communications device 102 a, theuser may select one or more portions of the image according to theembodiments discussed in more detail below. Selection of the one or moreportions may trigger a pattern recognition algorithm to begin. Thiscould include performing pattern recognition at the mobilecommunications device 102 a, or sending at least the selected portion ofthe image (e.g., picture or frame from a video) to another device, suchas the processing server 112 via the network 108, to perform the patternrecognition on at least the selected portion of the image.

Once a pattern has been obtained from the image, that pattern iscompared against other available patterns that correspond to potentialcontacts. For example, in embodiments where the pattern recognition isperformed at the mobile communications device 102 a, the mobilecommunications device 102 a may further compare the recognized patternagainst some subset of stored patterns (or all stored patterns). Eachstored pattern may correspond to a different contact, e.g. the differentcontacts maintained in a contacts list in the mobile communicationsdevice 102 a (the stored patterns may correspond to text or images, suchas a profile image stored for a given contact in the contact list, inwhich case the mobile communications device 102 a may have previouslyperformed pattern recognition on the profile image upon contact setup ormay have received the pattern for the profile image from an externalsource, such as processing server 112).

In an alternative embodiment, the mobile communications device 102 a maysend the recognized pattern to the processing server 112 for theprocessing server 112 to compare against stored patterns at theprocessing server 112 and/or other servers/entities. Further, the mobilecommunications device 102 a may first attempt to locate a matchingstored pattern locally, and if no match is found, send the recognizedpattern to the processing server 112 for further searching andcomparison.

Either way, once a matching pattern is found from among one or morestored (or dynamically accessed via one or more networks 108 from someother database(s)), contact information associated with the matchingpattern is accessed to identify a recipient address for the transfer ofdata. Where the processing server 112 searched among stored patterns,this may be performed by the processing server 112, after which theaccessed contact information is sent to the mobile communications device102 a via the network 108. Upon receipt of the contact information, orupon accessing the contact information stored locally where the mobilecommunications device 102 a performed its own search, the mobilecommunications device 102 a may initiate transfer of the data to therecipient identified from the image, thereby reducing the chance oferror of a user entering an incorrect contact address and improving theease, convenience, and efficiency of identifying recipients andtransferring data according to embodiments of the present disclosure.For example, in an embodiment the transfer of data may correspond totransferring a monetary amount in payment or an invoice for an amount tothe identified recipient.

In an embodiment, transfer of the data to the address of the recipient(e.g., which may be received at one or more devices of the recipientsuch as one of mobile communications devices 102 b and 102 c, or anothercomputer) may occur by the mobile communications device 102 ainstructing the processing server 112 via connection 106 a to transferdata (e.g., of which at least a subset was also provided from theoriginating mobile communications device 102 a) to an address of therecipient, which may in practice translate into the processing server112 sending the data to the mobile communications device 102 c viaconnection 106 c (e.g., where the mobile communications device 102 c isassociated with the address such as an email address or phone number, toname some examples).

In an alternative embodiment, the transfer may occur by the mobilecommunications device 102 a utilizing a P2P session with a deviceassociated with the recipient, in this example mobile communicationsdevice 102 c via P2P session 104 a. Where the data is money or aninvoice that is managed by the processing server 112, the datatransferred via P2P session 104 a may include an instruction for therecipient mobile communications device 102 c to establish its ownconnection with the processing server 112, such as via connection 106 c,to communicate with the processing server 112 to complete the transferof data.

However the data is transferred to the recipient device, in this examplemobile communications device 102 c, receipt of the information triggersa notification at the mobile communications device 102 c. This mayinclude a passive notification shown when the screen is locked at themobile communications device 102 c, and/or a light notification, or maybe configured to display only when the user of the mobile communicationsdevice 102 c next logs in beyond the locked screen. The notification mayrequest the user of the mobile communications device 102 c to accept orreject the data received from the mobile communications device 102 a,for example a transfer of some monetary amount or an invoice. Uponacceptance or rejection, the recipient mobile communications device 102c may then transmit a status response to the initiating mobilecommunications device 102 a identifying the acceptance or rejection.Further details will be discussed with respect to the figures below.

One exemplary embodiment of the mobile communications devices 102 isdepicted in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the mobile communication devices 102include a transceiver 202, a memory 204, a hardware processor 206, auser interface 208, a data store 210, a location determination system212, and an image transaction system 214. These elements may be indirect or indirect communication with each other, for example via one ormore buses.

The transceiver 202 may include a modem subsystem and a radio frequency(RF) unit and be configured to communicate bi-directionally with otherdevices, such as other mobile communications devices 102 and/or thenetwork 108. The memory 204 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cachememory of the processor 206), random access memory (RAM),magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, solid state memory device, hard disk drives, other forms ofvolatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types ofmemory. In an embodiment, the memory 204 includes a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium.

The memory 204 may store instructions that, when executed by theprocessor 206, cause the processor 206 to perform the operationsdescribed herein in connection with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Instructions may also be referred to as code. The terms“instructions” and “code” may include any type of computer-readablestatement(s). For example, the terms “instructions” and “code” may referto one or more programs, routines, sub-routines, functions, procedures,etc. “Instructions” and “code” may include a single computer-readablestatement or many computer-readable statements.

The processor 206 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device,another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereofconfigured to perform the operations described herein and discussed inmore detail below. The processor 206 may also be implemented as acombination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and amicroprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration. The processor 206 may be a single processor or multipleprocessors, where each processor may have one or more processing corescapable of parallel and/or sequential operation.

The user interface 208 may include an input component and an outputcomponent. For example, the user interface 208 may include a touchscreeninterface that outputs data for visual use as well as receives/processesone or more touches/swipes/gestures to be potentially interpretedaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure. Further, the userinterface 208 may be used to display one or more notifications, elementsof information, and application data according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The user interface 208 may also include one or morelights (e.g., LEDs) separate from a touchscreen, a vibration generator,a speaker, a microphone, input for a mouse, input for a keyboard, etc.useful for providing feedback to a user as well as receiving furtherinput therefrom. The user interface may include one or more imagecapture devices, such as cameras capable of taking pictures and/or videoand storing the images in the data store 210 and/or displaying theimages live to a user of the mobile communications device 102.

The data store 210 may be, for example, a hard drive, flash drive,storage array, or other type of storage. The data store 210 may storenotifications, transferred information, location information, mapinformation, and/or update information (e.g., as an “app”). Further, inembodiments of the present disclosure, the data store 210 may store oneor more contact lists that may contain identifying information for oneor more contacts for a user of the mobile communications device 102,such as one or more addresses for the contact (e.g., email address,phone number, street address, etc.) and an image associated with thecontact.

In an embodiment, the location determination system 212 may include oneor more transceivers to enable communication with the GNSS 110illustrated in FIG. 1. The mobile communications devices 102 a, 102 b,and 102 c may further include assisted-GPS for enhanced signalacquisition/location quality. The location determination system 212determines a location for the mobile communications device 102 based onthe information obtained from the one or more transceivers incommunication with the GNSS 110.

The image transaction system 214 may be an example of the app mentionedabove with respect to the data store 210. In an embodiment, the imagetransaction system 214 is an application that communicates with theother components of the mobile communications device 102. For example,the image transaction system 214 may be in communication with the imagecapture device and/or other applications in use at the mobilecommunications device 102. For example, the image transaction system 214may activate upon detection that the image capture device becomesactive, or when an application is accessed that may be a source of oneor more images used to initiate a transfer of data according toembodiments of the present disclosure (e.g., one or more socialnetworking applications, one or more news applications, etc.).

Upon activation of the image transaction system 214, it may wait for oneor more types of inputs to perform actions according to embodiments ofthe present disclosure. For example, in an embodiment, the imagetransaction system 214 may superimpose an identifying icon (e.g.,unobtrusively such as in a corner of the screen and/or with some degreeof transparency) over any images that appear on the touchscreen and thenwait for user input. The user of the mobile communications device 214may indicate a desire to use the image transaction system 214 toinitiate transfers of data based on image recognition by selecting theregion of the screen associated with the icon. Once selected, the imagetransaction system 214 monitors the next input from the touchscreen as apotential identification of a desired recipient.

The user may then select one or more regions of the touchscreen (e.g.,by one or more taps with one or more fingers). The image transactionsystem 214 may then temporarily capture the information displayed on atleast those portions of the touchscreen at the time of the selection. Asnoted with respect to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, the image transactionsystem 214 may perform pattern recognition on the information from theselection portion(s) of the touchscreen, such as in cooperation with theprocessor 206 or with a dedicated processor/controller of the imagetransaction system 214. In other embodiments, the image transactionsystem 214 may convey the information from the selected portion(s) ofthe touchscreen to the transceiver 202 for transmission to theprocessing server 112 of FIG. 1.

Alternatively, instead of an icon, the image transaction system 214 mayrecognize a particular gesture to indicate that an image should becaptured for use in embodiments of the present disclosure (e.g., asopposed to merely capturing an image for storage and viewing later). Forexample, the image transaction system 214 may interpret a first gestureto mean a first type of data transfer, a second gesture to mean a secondtype of data transfer, etc. For example, tapping the touchscreen withsome set of fingers (e.g., that are not generally recognized by the hostoperating system or application to correspond to some other function,like zoom), such as three, may indicate the first type of data transfer(such as a payment). Tapping with some different set of fingers, such asfour, may indicate the second type of data transfer (such as aninvoice). These are just a few examples; any number of gestures may beset for the image transaction system 214 to recognize as correspondingto any number of data transfer types. Other gestures may be possible aswell, such as swipes in a pre-determined direction and/or with apredetermined number of fingers/touchpoints on the touchscreen, etc.

In embodiments where pattern recognition is performed locally at themobile communications device 102, upon completion, the image transactionsystem 214 may take the recognized pattern(s) derived from the selectedportion(s) (e.g., a different recognized pattern for each selectedportion from the touchscreen—reference will be made herein to arecognized pattern generally for simplicity of discussion) and comparethe recognized pattern to any stored patterns maintained at the mobilecommunications device 102, such as in the data store 210 (e.g., in oneor more contact lists). A stored pattern may include and/or be based onan image of the corresponding contact (e.g., a person or a business, toname two examples of possible entities). Alternatively, the imagetransaction system 214 may have access to one or more social mediaaccounts of the user of the mobile communications device 102, and maysearch through any connections in those account(s) in order topotentially locate a match based on profile information stored in thoseaccounts. In other embodiments where pattern recognition is performedlocally, the image transaction system 214 may instruct the transceiver202 to transmit the recognized pattern to the processing server 112 forcomparison to stored patterns there.

In embodiments where the image transaction system 214 performs thecomparison at the mobile communications device 102, a result with alevel of confidence of a match between the recognized pattern and storedpattern above a set level (e.g., 90% as one example) may be presented tothe user for confirmation. Some or all of the matching contact's contactinformation may be presented via the touchscreen to the user of themobile communications device 102 for confirmation before initiatingtransfer of the data. Alternatively, the image transaction system 214may automatically initiate transfer of data (in some embodiments, thedata may be confirmed by the user first while in others that may bepre-set as well and thus not receive further confirmation from the user)once a match is located, for example if the level of confidence is abovea certain threshold (e.g., 98% as just one example), a type of datameets certain criteria (e.g., below a certain dollar amount, etc.),and/or the user of the mobile communications device 102 had set apreference for automatic initiation of a data transfer at a confidencethreshold.

In some embodiments, the image transaction system 214 may obtain thelocation information from the location determination system 212 and usethat information to assist in the comparison process. For example, apreference may be set, for example by the user, to use the locationinformation to narrow the range of contacts whose stored patterns arecompared against with the recognized pattern. In another embodiment, theimage processing system 214 may use the location information to predicta type of data that the user desires to send by selecting image portions(e.g., a monetary amount when at a general geographic location, etc.).

In embodiments where the comparison is performed at the processingserver 112, the location information may be sent to the processingserver 112 with, or at a different time, information relating to theportion of the image (and/or the recognized pattern, where that isperformed at the mobile communications device 102 and is used to compareagainst stored patterns at the processing server 112 and its potentiallylarger range of potential contacts). In an embodiment, the imagetransaction system 214 may have previously uploaded contact informationfrom one or more contact information sources, such as local contactlists and/or social media relationships, to the processing server 112 inorder to offload the searching burden to the processing server 112 andpotentially further speed up the search/comparison process.

Once the processing server 112 completes the comparison process, theresult may be sent back to the mobile communications device 102 so thatthe user may confirm the matching recipient and/or the data to be sent.In other embodiments where the processing server 112 performs thecomparison, the data transfer may be initiated from the processingserver 112 on behalf of the mobile communications device 102, with orwithout confirmation by the user of the mobile communications device102. This may occur, for example, where the mobile communications device102 sends the data to transfer (e.g., a dollar transfer amount from anaccount maintained at the processing server 112 for the user associatedwith the mobile communications device 102) with the recognized pattern(or information to undergo pattern recognition, where that is also doneat the processing server 112) to the processing server 112.

Whether the match is located by the mobile communications device 102 orthe processing server 112, in some embodiments the image transactionsystem 214 may direct a prompt to be displayed on the touchscreenrequesting the user of the mobile communications device 102 to confirmthe recipient. As security for the potential recipient may be a concern,for example where the match is located at the processing server 112while searching through contact information that may not be otherwiseaccessible to the particular user of the mobile communications device102, some portion of the recipient's name may be blocked so that theuser does not obtain a full set of information of the recipient, butrather just some subset that may be sufficient enough to confirm whetherthe located identity is correct or not. Further, the image transactionsystem 214 may prompt the user of the mobile communications device 102to confirm the data to be transferred, either at the same time asprompting the user to confirm the identity of the matching recipient orat a different time, such as after.

If a match is not located from the comparison, the image transactionsystem 214 may display a prompt to the user via the touchscreenindicating that no match was found. The prompt may request the user toadd a new contact associated with the recognized pattern (e.g.,including a name, one or more addresses such as street address, emailaddress, telephone number, etc.) for storage either locally (e.g., inthe data store 210) or on an external system such as the processingserver 112 for later use. As one example, if the comparison is performedlocally by the image transaction system 214, and no match is found whencomparing against stored patterns locally, the image transaction system214 may then forward the information on to the processing server 112 sothat the processing server 112 may compare against stored patterns thatit maintains, such as associated with the different users of one or moreservices offered by the processing server 112.

Turning now to FIG. 3, an exemplary processing server 112 isillustrated. The processing server 112 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes atransceiver 302, a memory 304, a hardware processor 306, a userinterface 308, a data store 310, and an image transaction system 312.These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with eachother, for example via one or more buses.

The transceiver 302 may include a modem subsystem and a radio frequency(RF) unit and be configured to communicate bi-directionally with thenetwork 108. The memory 304 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cachememory of the processor 206), random access memory (RAM),magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmableread-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, solid state memory device, hard disk drives, other forms ofvolatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types ofmemory. In an embodiment, the memory 304 includes a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium. The memory 304 may store instructions that,when executed by the processor 306, cause the processor 306 to performthe operations described herein in connection with embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Instructions may also be referred to as code.

The processor 306 may include a central processing unit (CPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device,another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereofconfigured to perform the operations described herein. The processor 306may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., acombination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration. The processor 306 may be a singleprocessor or multiple processors, where each processor may have one ormore processing cores capable of parallel and/or sequential operation.

The user interface 308 may include an input component and an outputcomponent. For example, the user interface 308 may include a screeninterface that outputs data for visual use. The user interface 308 mayalso include input for a mouse, input for a keyboard, etc. useful forreceiving further input therefrom.

The data store 310 may be, for example, a hard drive, flash drive,storage array, or other type of storage. The data store 310 may store adatabase used according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Forexample, the data store 310 may host a database that stores profileinformation for one or more users registered to use one or more servicesprovided by the processing server 112. The profile information mayinclude any one or more of name information for a subscribing user,address information associated with the subscribing user (e.g., streetaddress, email address, phone number, etc.), payment information, animage associated with the subscribing user, and one or more preferences.In an embodiment, a preference may include whether or not thesubscribing user has elected to allow aspects of its profile information(such as the image and a portion of the name) to be used in comparisonsaccording to aspects of the present disclosure. The processing server112 may further store patterns associated with a contact list of themobile communications device 102 in the data store 310, such as in thesame or a different database.

Further, the processing server 112 may use the profile informationstored in one or more databases in the data store 310 to facilitateonline transactions, such as payments and/or invoicing between parties(to name just a few examples). In additional or alternative embodiments,the processing server 112 may also have access to one or more databasesmaintained by a third party that may store additional profileinformation for the same or additional/different subscribing users.

The image transaction system 312 communicates with the other componentsof the processing server 112 to assist in various aspects of the presentdisclosure. For example, the image processing system 312 may performpattern recognition on one or more contacts in a contact list. Themobile communications device 102 (referred to singularly but many mobilecommunications devices 102 may be corresponding with the processingserver 112 at any given time) may have, at a previous time, sent itscontact list (or a subset thereof) to the processing server 112 toassist in matching occurring more quickly. In that embodiment, the imagetransaction system 312 may store the patterns corresponding to theentries in the contact list locally, such as in an account in thedatabase associated with the user of the mobile communications device102. Alternatively, the processing server 112 may send the patterns backto the mobile communications device 102 for the mobile communicationsdevice 102 to store in its local data store 210 in association with thecontacts in its contact list.

When a user of the mobile communications device 102 is attempting toinitiate a transfer of data according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the image transaction system 312 may perform patternrecognition on the information from the selection portion(s) of thetouchscreen when they are received from the mobile communications device102, such as in cooperation with the processor 306 or with a dedicatedprocessor/controller of the image transaction system 312. Once the imagetransaction system 312 has obtained a recognized pattern, the imagetransaction system 312 may send the recognized pattern back to theoriginating mobile communications device 102 for comparison againststored patterns there (e.g., in contact lists at the mobilecommunications device 102). Alternatively, the image transaction system312 may itself compare the recognized pattern against at least a subsetof stored patterns maintained in one or more databases for correspondingusers, such as stored in data store 310.

Once a match is determined in embodiments where the processing server112 performs the comparison, the image transaction system 312 mayinstruct the transceiver 302 to send some subset of profile informationcorresponding to the matched pattern to the originating mobilecommunications device 102. Confirmation of the match and/or of the datato transfer may be performed there according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Alternatively, the image transaction system 312 mayautomatically initiate transfer of data once a match is located, forexample if the level of confidence is above a certain threshold (e.g.,98% as just one example), a type of data meets certain criteria (e.g.,below a certain dollar amount, etc.), and/or the user of the mobilecommunications device 102 had set a preference for automatic initiationof a data transfer at a confidence threshold in their profile for theiraccount at the processing server 112.

Upon confirmation of a match, whether performed at the mobilecommunications device 102 or the processing server 112, initiation of atransfer of data occurs. For example, the mobile communications device102 may send a message to the processing server 112 to initiate atransfer of data identified in the message to the recipient (e.g.,identified with an address as determined from the patternrecognition/comparison/matching discussed above). The message may bereceived in conjunction with confirmation of the identified match beingcorrect from the mobile communications device 102, such as where thecomparison was performed by the image transaction system 312 at theprocessing server 112. Alternatively, the message may be received afterconfirmation has occurred (or, where confirmation is not required, afterthe match has been located whether at the mobile communications device102 or the processing server 112).

The transfer of data may be performed directly between the mobilecommunications device 102 and the address of the recipient, which mayfor example be associated with another mobile communications device 102(or any other communications device capable of receiving andtransmitting information). In other embodiments, the transfer of datamay use the processing server 112. For example, where the transfer ofdata is a payment or an invoice and the processing server 112 is apayment service provider, such as PayPal, Inc., of San Jose, Calif., themobile communications device 102 may initiate the transfer of data byincluding, in the message, a request for the processing server 112 toperform the transfer between an account maintained at the processingserver 112 for the user of the mobile communications device 102 and anaccount associated with the recipient.

For example, the account for the recipient may be an account alsomaintained by the processing server 112, in which case the imagetransaction system 312 may cause the transceiver 302 to send anotification message to the address for the recipient of the pendingtransfer of data. For example, the notification message may cause amobile communications device 102 associated with the recipient todisplay a message to the recipient requesting the recipient to accept ordecline the payment/invoice (continuing with this particular example).As another example, the recipient may maintain an account at anotherpayment service provider/financial service provider. In that instance,the image transaction system 312 may cause the transceiver 302 to send,in addition to the notification message to the recipient, a message tothe payment service provider that maintains the account for therecipient for the transfer of the data once the recipient hasaccepted/approved the transfer at their respective device.

An example use case will now be described with reference to FIGS. 4A-6B.FIG. 4A is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile communications device102 according to embodiments of the present disclosure, such as wasdiscussed with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2 above.

FIG. 4A in particular illustrates an exemplary touchscreen of userinterface 208. This will be referred to as touchscreen 208 here.Displayed on the touchscreen 208 is an image 406. The image 406 may be alive feed from a camera connected to (or integrated with) the mobilecommunications device 102, or may be a video stream from a video storedin the memory 204 and/or data store 210 or at some external system andstreamed via the transceiver 202. The image 406 may alternatively be aphotograph stored in a local gallery on the data store 210 and/or storedat some external system and sent to the mobile communications device102, such as a social networking system.

As illustrated, the image 406 includes two entities 408 and 410. Theentities 408 and 410 may be any combination of people, logos, or othertext that have been captured by a camera in a live feed or staticrepresentation. For example, for purposes of illustration here, thesewill be described as the first entity 408 being a first person and thesecond entity 410 being a second person that fall within the view of thecamera of the mobile communications device 102 or that have beencaptured in an image/video previously that is now being accessed on themobile communications device 102.

As discussed above, certain gestures may be interpreted, for example bythe image transaction system 214, as requests to perform differentaspects of the present disclosure. For example, in an embodiment theimage transaction system 214 may cause an icon 404 to be superimposed onthe image 406. The icon 404 is illustrated as being located in the upperright corner of the image 406; this is exemplary. The icon 404 may beplaced anywhere on the touchscreen 208 that may be associated with theimage 406. The icon 404 may be fully opaque so that the regionunderneath it is not visible, or partially transparent so that it isless obtrusive to the user. In embodiments where specific gestures areset so that the image transaction system 214 recognizes specificfunctions to be performed, regardless of where on the screen the touchoccurs, the icon 404 may be omitted. The following discussion will focuson the use of the icon 404, although it will be applicable to othertypes of gestures as will be recognized.

The region of the touchscreen 208 corresponding to where the icon 404has been superimposed has been selected in FIG. 4B. As illustrated inFIG. 4B, once the area is selected for the icon 404, the icon 404 maychange appearance (e.g., color and/or texture) to indicate that it hasbeen selected by the user. For example, once the user selects (e.g.,with touch or cursor) the region of the touchscreen 208 where the icon404 is being superimposed, the image transaction system 214 mayacknowledge the selection and cause the touchscreen 208 to change itsappearance in response. With the icon 404 selected, the imagetransaction system 214 is active and ready to respond to any subsequenttouch as an identification of a region on which to initiate patternrecognition.

Different gestures/touches/selections may correspond to differentinstructions. For example, a touch 412 with three fingertips (exemplaryonly; any number of touchpoints are envisioned within the scope of thepresent disclosure) may indicate a particular type of data transfer(e.g., in icon 404 embodiments, while in other embodiments it maytrigger the image transaction system 214 to monitor the next input as aselection of a region for pattern recognition, and/or data transfertype). As another example, a gesture 414 may indicate a particular typeof data transfer and gesture 416 another type of data transfer (e.g., inicon 404 embodiments, while in other embodiments, it may trigger theimage transaction system 214 to monitor the next input as a selection ofa region for pattern recognition, and/or data transfer type). Forexample, the swipe or gesture 414 may indicate that the user desires tosend a payment to one or more entities to be selected subsequently,while the swipe or gesture 416 may indicate that the user desires tocreate and send an invoice to one or more entities selectedsubsequently.

As another example, touching regions 418 or 420 may indicate aparticular type of data transfer (e.g., in icon 404 embodiments, whilein other embodiments, it may trigger the image transaction system 214 tomonitor the next input as a selection of a region for patternrecognition, and/or data transfer type). In addition or alternatively,selecting the regions 418 or 420 may indicate to the image transactionsystem 214 that all possible entities in the image 406 are to beselected, as will be discussed in more detail below.

Turning now to FIG. 5A, after the icon 404 has been selected and, insome embodiments, a gesture used to indicate a type of data transfer theuser desires to initiate, the user may identify one or more entities inthe image 406 to obtain contact information for them to use in the datatransfer. As illustrated, the icon 404 may retain its changed appearanceduring this portion of the procedure as well (and may continue to do so,for example, until the process is complete), thus providing the user aquick visual indicator of the input status of the mobile communicationsdevice 102.

As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the user has selected a single entity fromthe multiple available in the image 406, here entity/person 408. In anembodiment, the image transaction system 214 may cause the touchscreen208 to superimpose a box 422 (e.g., a hollow box) identifying the regionthat the user selected. In an embodiment, the image transaction system214 may provide a default-sized box (e.g., a certain distance in eachdirection from the directed touch point, with the box 422 being eitherrectangular or circular/oval in shape, to name some examples). The box422 may be hollow but for the outline, so that the selected region isoutlined by the box 422, or alternatively may be a partially transparentbox, to name some examples.

As illustrated in FIG. 5B, the user has selected multiple entities fromthose available in the image 406, here entity/person 408 andentity/person 410. As illustrated, the icon 404 may retain its changedappearance during this portion of the procedure as well (and maycontinue to do so, for example, until the process is complete), thusproviding the user a quick visual indicator of the input status of themobile communications device 102.

There are several ways in which both entities displayed in FIG. 5B mayhave been selected. For example, the user may have tapped the selectedregion for each selection individually. Alternatively, a “select all”feature may be provided for, for example via the regions 418 or 420,where those have been previously associated with a “select all” featureat the image transaction system 214. Doing so may trigger the imagetransaction system 214 to perform at least rudimentary patternrecognition on the image 406 to identify all faces (where those are ofinterest; other items of interest could include logos or other text, forexample) in the image 406.

The image transaction system 214 may then provide an initial box overeach face recognized in the image 406. The user may then manually modifythe boxes displayed, for example by tapping regions of the image 406where a box should be but has not appeared yet, or by tapping regionswhere a box has been placed but should not be. In addition to the box422 already discussed with respect to FIG. 5A, the image transactionsystem 214 may additionally cause the touchscreen to superimpose a box424 (e.g., a hollow box) identifying the selected region. In anembodiment, the image transaction system 214 may provide a default-sizedbox (e.g., a certain distance in each direction from the directed touchpoint, with the box 424 being either rectangular or circular/oval inshape, to name some examples). The box 424 may be hollow but for theoutline, so that the selected region is outlined by the box 424, oralternatively may be a partially transparent box, to name some examples.

After the regions have been selected, pattern recognition of at leastthose selected regions is performed (e.g., either by the mobilecommunications device 102 or by the processing server 112) according tothe embodiments discussed above. If a match is not found, the user maybe prompted to enter in new contact information to associate therecognized pattern to a new contact (whether stored in a contact list atthe mobile communications device 102, at the processing server 112, orboth). If a match is found, confirmation of the match and/or type ofdata for transmission may then be confirmed.

This is illustrated in FIG. 6A, where a single entity 408 has beenselected as discussed above with respect to FIG. 5A, though the sameprocedure may be applied individually (e.g., with separate windows) orconcurrently (e.g., together in the same window) when multiple entitiesare selected. In FIG. 6A, pattern recognition and comparison/matchinghave already completed. In the embodiment of FIG. 6A, a window 428 maybe displayed on the touchscreen 208 to prompt the user to confirm therecipient identified and/or data for transfer (in this example, apayment).

As illustrated, the window 428 may include information about therecipient identified from the pattern matching procedure; here, thefirst letter and full last name are shown, thereby blocking out the fullfirst name of the identified recipient. This may be used, for example,where the processing server 112 assisted in identifying the recipientbased on a database that the user of the mobile communications device102 does not have access to, thereby allowing the other users of thedatabase/processing server 112 a measure of security from idle browsing.

The window 428 may also include a field that identifies the data to betransferred. In this example, the data to be transferred is a monetaryamount. The image transaction system 214 may have a default data set topropose for sending, e.g. a default amount for payment, a default amountfor invoicing, a default message to send, etc., depending upon thespecific type of transfer the user previously specified near the startof the process. Alternatively, as noted above with respect to FIG. 2, insome embodiments of the present disclosure the image transaction system214 may use location information obtained from the locationdetermination system 212 to provide different default amounts, dependingupon the location. As shown in window 428, the amount may also bemanually increased or decreased by the user before the user selects“yes” or “no,” corresponding to approval to complete the transfer anddenial, respectively.

After the user has reviewed the information in the window 428 andselected “yes” (or something similar indicating approval to continue),the image transaction system 214 takes the yes input and initiates atransfer of the data. In an embodiment, this may be transferred via thetransceiver 202 to a device associated with the address of therecipient, such as another mobile communications device 102, via a P2Pconnection. In embodiments where the transfer is a payment or aninvoice, this may be considered an “offline” transfer. When therecipient mobile communications device 102 receives the messagecontaining the transferred data, the message will also include a triggerfor the recipient mobile communications device 102 to establish its ownconnection to the processing server 112 in order to complete thetransaction. In other embodiments where the processing server 112 isinvolved, the originating mobile communications device 102 may initiatetransfer of the data by sending a message to the processing server 112,e.g., the payment information and/or invoice information as a fewexamples.

Once the processing server 112 receives the message, it causes theprocessing server 112 to take the address of the recipient identified inthe message, initiate the transfer identified in the message (e.g.,payment or invoice), and send a notification message to the recipientmobile communications device 102 of the pending transaction forapproval/denial/modification. As part of this process, the processingserver 112 may identify the account associated with the user of theoriginating mobile communications device 102 (e.g., which identifyinginformation for the account may be included in the message) and theaccount associated with the recipient. If the recipient does not alreadyhave an account with the operator of the processing server 112, theprocessing server 112 may either identify where the recipient may havean account (e.g., another financial institution, etc.) to facilitatetransfer of the payment to where the recipient has an account, or mayinclude in its notification message to the recipient's mobilecommunications device 102 a prompt to open an account at the processingserver 112.

The notification message, whether received from the processing server112 or the originating mobile communications device 102, triggers therecipient mobile communications device to display a notification ofreceipt of the message, e.g., a window on the screen, flashing of an LEDlight, etc. The notification may include a prompt to accept or declinethe data transfer, and in some embodiments modify it (e.g., for amonetary amount, modify to a reduced amount or increased amount, whichmay trigger the processing server 112 to relay a message back to theoriginating mobile communications device 102 to accept or decline themodification).

Back at the originating mobile communications device 102, once the datatransfer has been approved, the icon 404 may return to its initialstate. Any touches to the touchscreen 208 thereafter, except on theregion of the icon 404, may be responded to according to any othersystem operations as set in the mobile communications device 102. Forexample, the user may finish its use of the camera or viewing of images(e.g., in an image gallery or social media account) and shift to otherscreens.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 6B, the user may have navigated to ahome screen 430 before the recipient acts on the notification message itreceived. Once the recipient accepts or declines the data contents ofthe data transfer, this may be relayed back to the originating mobilecommunications device 102 via the processing server 112 or sent viaanother path (e.g., a P2P connection). This decision message, oncereceived at the originating mobile communications device 102, triggersthe mobile communications device 102 to display the result. In theillustrated example, a window 432 indicates that the data transfer wasaccepted. If the recipient accepts the transfer, the security concernmay be reduced and therefore the confirmation message may include thefull name of the recipient. Although illustrated as a window, the window432 may alternatively be another type of notification, such as aparticular sound and/or light depending on whether the transfer wasaccepted or declined, or a notification identifier in a corner of thetouchscreen 208, etc.

The user of the mobile communications device 102 may accept thenotification and return to whatever operation (if any) the user wasengaged in before the notification (by selecting “OK” in the illustratedexample of FIG. 6B). Alternatively, the user may select to initiateanother data transfer by selecting “new” in the illustrated example. Ifthis is selected, it may trigger the mobile communications device 102 toopen up the application that controls a camera of the mobilecommunications device 102 (or an image gallery, or a social network,etc.) so that another image (whether a new one or the same one asbefore) may be accessed to select one or more other regions to performaspects of the present disclosure.

Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure enable a user of a mobilecommunications device 102 to initiate data transfers in a more automatedmanner using images to identify the contacts for the messagetransferring the data. For example, the user may be at a gathering ofpeople (e.g., a family reunion, a party, etc.) with multiple people inattendance. Several of those in attendance may decide to take a groupphotograph. The user may realize that he/she owes $20 to one of thosethat were in the photograph (or frame of the camera before or afterphotograph is taken). On the photograph or frame, the user may tap on orotherwise select the face of the targeted recipient (or, in someembodiments, nearby the face of the targeted recipient). The mobilecommunications device 102 of the user, or the processing server 112,performs pattern recognition and comparison to other patterns to find amatch. The processing server 112 may set up a payment flow to facilitatetransfer of the $20 from the user to the selected recipient.

As another example, a group of people may be gathered together at anevent in which each of the people had agreed to contribute to cover thecost of the event. The person who assumed the initial cost of the eventmay take a picture of the group, select all of the members of the groupthat agreed to contribute, and indicate that an invoice should begenerated. The processing server 112 may then generate the invoice andcommunicate it to all those that were identified from the group picture.Further, someone who later reviews the group picture, for example afterit is posted on a social networking site, may desire to transferadditional money to the person who assumed the initial cost of theevent. They may therefore select a region of the group picture of theperson and initiate a payment as noted above.

As another example, a group of people may come together at a restaurant.When it comes time to pay the bill, the people in the group may useembodiments of the present disclosure to split the bill and/or reimburseeach other. For example, one person may pay the full bill and take oneor more photographs of the group and initiate invoicing as discussedabove. Alternatively, each member may capture an image of the personpaying the full bill and initiate a transfer of their share of the billto that person. As another alternative, when it comes time to pay thebill, each person in the group may capture an image relating to therestaurant, such as the logo of the restaurant, or a particular imagegenerated for the check for the group, and initiate a transfer of afraction of the bill to one or more accounts associated with therestaurant itself. Tipping may be handled in a similar manner.

These are just a few particular examples of how embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be applied and are not intended to be limiting.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a flow diagram illustrates a method 700 forenhanced image-based information exchange according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The method 700 will be described with respect toa mobile communications device 102 for simplicity of discussion, thoughit will be recognized that the aspects described herein may beapplicable to a plurality of mobile communications devices 102. It isunderstood that additional steps can be provided before, during, andafter the steps of method 700, and that some of the steps described canbe replaced or eliminated for other embodiments of the method 700.

At block 702, the mobile communications device 102 displays an image onthe touchscreen 208 from an image source. The image source may be animage capturing device associated with the mobile communications device102 providing a live feed, or storage of the mobile communicationsdevice providing a picture/video collected previously by the imagecapturing device. The image source may also be an external source, suchas a social networking site or other website, to name a few examples.

At block 704, the mobile communications device 102 receives anindication to activate the image transaction system 214. This may comein the form of a pre-specified gesture (e.g., a specified number oftouchpoints and/or gesture direction(s)) on the touchscreen 208 or of atouch in the region of a dedicated icon superimposed on the image.

At block 706, the mobile communications device 102 detects a gestureinput identifying at least one portion of the image to process in orderto identify a recipient and initiate a transfer of data according toembodiments of the present disclosure. There may be one or multiple suchgesture inputs corresponding to one or multiple entities that the userof the mobile communications device 102 desires to identify asrecipients.

At decision block 708, if the mobile communications device 102 performspattern recognition, then the method 700 proceeds to block 710. At block710, the mobile communications device 102 performs pattern recognitionon the one or more selected regions of the image.

Returning to decision block 708, if the mobile communications device 102does not perform pattern recognition, then the method 700 proceeds toblock 712. At block 712, the mobile communications device 102 sendsimage data including at least the selected regions of the image to aprocessing server 112. At block 714, the processing server 112 performspattern recognition on the one or more selected regions of the image asreceived from the mobile communications device 102 at block 712.

Turning now to decision block 716, if the processing server 112 is theentity designated to compare the recognized pattern to one or morestored patterns associated with contacts, then the method 700 proceedsto block 718. At block 718, the mobile communications device 102 sendsthe recognized pattern to the processing server 112.

Returning to decision block 716, if instead the mobile communicationsdevice 102 compares the recognized pattern to one or more storedpatterns, then the method 700 proceeds to block 720.

At block 720, the mobile communications device 102 compares therecognized pattern against one or more stored patterns. For example, themobile communications device 102 may have stored patterns correspondingto one or more images for contacts in one or more contact listspreviously created, against which the recognized pattern is compared.Alternatively or in addition, the mobile communications device 102 mayhave access to patterns associated with profiles in one or more socialnetworking sites against which to compare the recognized pattern.

At decision block 722, if a match has been located, then the method 700proceeds to block 724. A match may result from the recognized patternand the matching pattern meeting matching requirements for a givenpattern recognition algorithm (e.g., any known or future algorithm forrecognizing patterns and matching patterns may be used without departingfrom the scope of the present disclosure, such as extracting andcomparing landmarks, contour matching, curve fitting, using probabilitymeasures, decision theory, neural networks, kernel approaches,clustering, inferences, some combination of different approaches, etc.).

At block 724, the mobile communications device 102 prompts the user toconfirm the identity of the recipient that corresponds to the matchingstored pattern, for example via a window prompt on the touchscreen 208of the mobile communications device 102.

At decision block 726, if the type of transfer is not known already(e.g., a payment, an invoice, etc.), then the method 700 proceeds toblock 728. At block 728, the mobile communications device 102 promptsthe user, for example via a window prompt on the touchscreen 208, toidentify the data transfer type (whether by selecting from a drop-downmenu or manually entering the type, or by a pre-determined gesture,etc.).

Returning to decision block 726, if the type of transfer is knownalready, then the method 700 proceeds to block 730. This may occur, forexample, where the image transaction system 214 detected a gesturepre-determined to identify a transaction type at an earlier stage in theprocess. At block 730, the mobile communications device 102 mayprepopulate the transfer type (e.g., payment, invoice, etc.), and/or thedetails of the transfer (e.g., a monetary amount, etc.).

From either block 728 or block 730, the method 700 proceeds to block732. At block 732, the mobile communications device 102 prompts the userto confirm the transfer, including the details of the transfer includingthe type and details. If the information is incorrect, the user has anoption in the prompt to modify the details of the transfer or thetransfer type.

At block 734, the mobile communications device 102 initiates transfer ofthe data to the confirmed recipient from block 724. This may involvetransmitting the data to a device associated with the determined addressof the recipient directly or indirectly, or by instructing theprocessing server 112 to facilitate the transfer (e.g., where monetaryamounts may change accounts).

At block 736, the mobile communications device 102 receives aconfirmation from the recipient's device (whether directly/indirectlyvia P2P, Internet, etc. or facilitated by the processing server 112).The confirmation may confirm that the data transfer was received and/orthat the data transfer was accepted at the recipient's device.

Returning now to decision block 722, if a match was not located afterthe comparison at block 720, then the method 700 proceeds to decisionblock 738.

At decision block 738, if the processing server 112 also assists insearching for a match after a failure to locate a match locally, thenthe method 700 proceeds to block 740. At block 740, the mobilecommunications device 102 sends the recognized pattern to the processingserver 112.

At block 742, which method 700 reaches from either block 714 or block740, the processing server 112 compares the recognized pattern to one ormore stored patterns associated with one or more databases at theprocessing server 112 or accessible by the processing server 112.

At block 744, the processing server 112 sends the results of itscomparison to the mobile communications device 102. This may include theresult of not being able to locate a match (e.g., with a sufficientconfidence level), in which case the method 700 may proceed to block736. If a match is found and sent as the result, then the method 700 mayproceed to block 724 and proceed as discussed above.

Turning now to FIG. 8, a flow diagram illustrates a method 800 forenhanced image-based information exchange according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The method 800 will be described with respect toa processing server 112 and a singular originating mobile communicationsdevice 102 for simplicity of discussion, though it will be recognizedthat the aspects described herein may be applicable to any number ofmobile communications devices 102. It is understood that additionalsteps can be provided before, during, and after the steps of method 800,and that some of the steps described can be replaced or eliminated forother embodiments of the method 800.

At decision block 802, if the processing server 112 does not performpattern recognition for at least selected portions of images (e.g., themobile communications device 102 does instead), then the method 800proceeds to decision block 804.

At decision block 804, if the processing server 112 does not performcomparisons of recognized patterns to stored patterns for the mobilecommunications device 102, then the method 800 proceeds to block 806.

At block 806, the processing server 112 receives instruction to initiatea data transfer to an identified recipient. This may occur, for example,where a recognized pattern has been obtained and a matching pattern hasbeen found to the recognized pattern. Further, this may occur where themobile communications device 102 does not transfer the data via someother mechanism such as P2P or a cellular network (but, even in thatsituation, the processing server 112 may receive a message from therecipient requesting that a payment occur where that is at issue).

Returning to decision block 802, if the processing server 112 doesperform pattern recognition for selected portions of images, then themethod 800 proceeds to block 808. At block 808, the processing server112 receives at least a portion of one or more images (e.g., together orsequentially) from the mobile communications device 102.

At block 810, the processing server 112 performs pattern recognition onthe one or more selected regions of the image as received from themobile communications device 102 at block 808.

At block 812, the processing server 112 compares the recognized patternfrom block 810 to one or more stored patterns associated with one ormore databases at the processing server 112 or accessible by theprocessing server 112.

Returning to decision block 804, if the processing server does performcomparisons of recognized patterns to stored patterns, then the method800 proceeds to block 812.

From block 812, the method 800 proceeds to block 814. At block 814, theprocessing server 112 sends the results of its comparison to the mobilecommunications device 102, for example as described with respect toblock 744 of FIG. 7. From block 814, the method 800 proceeds to block806 as discussed above.

From block 806, the method 800 proceeds to decision block 816. Atdecision block 816, if the transfer type is a payment, then the method800 proceeds to block 818. If the transfer type is an invoice, then themethod 800 proceeds to block 822. These are just two examples of whatthe transfer type may be.

At block 818, the processing server 112 initiates a transfer of themonetary amount from the user's account (of originating mobilecommunications device 102) to the recipient's account, whether theaccounts are both maintained at the processing server 112 or at separateprocessing/financial institutions (for this particular example).

At block 820, the processing server 112 sends a notification message tothe mobile communications device 102 associated with the recipient(and/or other devices). For example, the notification message may causethe mobile communications device 102 associated with the recipient todisplay a message to the recipient requesting the recipient to accept ordecline the payment/invoice (continuing with this particular example).As another example, the recipient may maintain an account at anotherpayment service provider/financial service provider. In that instance,the processing server 112 may send, in addition to the notificationmessage to the recipient's device, a message to the payment serviceprovider that maintains the account for the recipient for the transferof the data once the recipient has accepted/approved the transfer attheir respective device.

Returning to decision block 816, if the transfer type is an invoice,then the method 800 proceeds to block 822. At block 822, the processingserver 112 generates an invoice according to the terms received from theoriginating mobile communications device 102. The method 800 proceedsfrom block 822 to block 820, where the notification is sent to therecipient.

Whether payment or invoice, the method 800 proceeds from block 820 toblock 824. At block 824, the processing server 112 receives a result ofthe decision of the recipient. For example, where the transfer was of apayment, the recipient may have indicated either that the payment wasaccepted or declined. As another example, where the transfer was aninvoice, the recipient may have indicated acceptance/authorization topay the invoice or a dispute of the invoice.

At block 826, the processing server 112 finalizes the transfer based onthe result of block 824. For example, where the recipient accepted apayment as the transfer, then the processing server 112 may finalize thetransfer from the user of the originating mobile communications device102's account to the recipient's account (whether at the processingserver 112 or at a third-party processing/financial server). As anotherexample, if the transfer was an invoice, the processing server 112 maytransfer the invoiced amount where the invoice is authorized by therecipient, so that the amount is transferred from the recipient'saccount to the user's account.

In addition (whether payment or invoice), the processing server 112 mayforward on a status message to the originating mobile communicationsdevice 102, such as that the recipient accepted or declined the datatransfer. In some embodiments, the recipient may send the status messageto the originating mobile communications device 102 independent of theprocessing server 112.

Turning now to FIG. 9, a flow diagram illustrates a method 900 forenhanced image-based information exchange according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The method 900 will be described with respect toa mobile communications device 102 (referred to here as a recipientmobile communications device 102 associated with a recipient identifiedaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure) for simplicity ofdiscussion, though it will be recognized that the aspects describedherein may be applicable to any number of mobile communications devices102. It is understood that additional steps can be provided before,during, and after the steps of method 900, and that some of the stepsdescribed can be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments of themethod 900.

At block 902, the recipient mobile communications device 102 receives anotification message of a transfer initiation. For example, the noticemay be from a processing server 112 on behalf of an originating mobilecommunications device 102, or from the originating mobile communicationsdevice 102 via a different path than the processing server 112. Asdiscussed above, this notification message arrives in response to theuser of the originating mobile communications device 102 selecting aportion of an image, processing that image for pattern recognition,comparing the recognized pattern against stored patterns (at theoriginating mobile communications device 102 or the processing server112) and identifying an address of a recipient corresponding to amatched stored pattern.

At block 904, a notification display is activated at the recipientmobile communications device 102 in response to receipt of thenotification message at block 902. This notification display may includea passive notification shown when the screen is locked at the recipientmobile communications device 102, and/or a light notification, or may beconfigured to display only when a user of the recipient mobilecommunications device 102 next logs in beyond the locked screen. Thenotification may include a prompt to accept or decline the datatransfer.

At decision block 906, if the transfer type is a payment, then themethod 900 proceeds to block 908. At block 908, the recipient mobilecommunications device 102 prompts the user of the device (e.g., theintended recipient whose address was identified according to embodimentsof the present disclosure) to accept or decline the payment. This may beactivated in response to the receipt of the notification message atblock 902, and may be done separately from or at the same time as thenotification display at block 904.

At block 910, the recipient mobile communications device 102 receivesthe user's input in response to the prompt at block 908 and sends theresponse back to the device that triggered the notification. In anembodiment, that may be the processing server 112 on behalf of theoriginating mobile communications device 102, while in anotherembodiment that may be the originating mobile communications device 102(bypassing the processing server 112), or a combination of the two.

Returning to decision block 906, if the transfer type is an invoice,then the method 900 proceeds to block 912. At block 912, the recipientmobile communications device 102 prompts the user to process/respond tothe invoice at the present time or a subsequent time.

At decision block 914, if the user selected to process/respond to theinvoice at a subsequent time, then the method 900 proceeds to block 916.At block 916, the recipient mobile communications device 102 schedules afollow-up reminder to again display a notification to the user of theinvoice. This scheduled reminder may be sent back to the processingserver 112 as well, so that it may make note and send a reminder aswell.

If, at decision block 914, the user instead selected to process/respondto the invoice at the present time, then the method 900 proceeds toblock 918. At block 918, the recipient mobile communications device 102prompts the user to approve or decline the invoiced amount. If the userapproves the invoiced amount, the approval message is sent back to theprocessing server 112, whereupon the payment is processed such asdiscussed with respect to block 826.

If the user declines the invoice, or disputes the amount or some otheraspect of the invoice, the message back to the processing server 112 maythe dispute, and/or a modified amount, which may be relayed back to theoriginating mobile communications device 102 for decision/furtherdispute. In an embodiment, the processing server 112 may be configuredso that, if the disputed amount is within some percentage threshold ofthe original amount, the processing server 112 may automatically acceptthe change and finalize the transaction.

Referring now to FIG. 10 an embodiment of a computer system 1000suitable for implementing, for example, the mobile communicationsdevices, mobile devices, servers, etc., is illustrated. It should beappreciated that other devices utilized by users, payment serviceproviders, point of sale operators, and/or merchants/stores in thesystem discussed above may be implemented as the computer system 1000 ina manner as follows.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure,computer system 1000, such as a mobile device, computer and/or a server,includes a bus 1002 or other communication mechanism for communicatinginformation, which interconnects subsystems and components, such as aprocessing component 1004 (e.g., a hardware processor, micro-controller,digital signal processor (DSP), etc.), a system memory component 1006(e.g., RAM), a static storage component 1008 (e.g., ROM), a disk drivecomponent 1010 (e.g., magnetic or optical), a network interfacecomponent 1012 (e.g., modem or Ethernet card), a display component 1014(e.g., CRT or LCD), an input component 1018 (e.g., keyboard, keypad, orvirtual keyboard), a cursor control component 1020 (e.g., mouse,pointer, or trackball), a location determination component 1022 (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) device as illustrated, a cell towertriangulation device, and/or a variety of other location determinationdevices known in the art), and/or a camera component 1023. In oneimplementation, the disk drive component 1010 may comprise a databasehaving one or more disk drive components.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the computersystem 1000 performs specific operations by the processor 1004 executingone or more sequences of instructions contained in the memory component1006, such as described herein with respect to the mobile communicationsdevices, mobile devices, and/or servers. Such instructions may be readinto the system memory component 1006 from another computer readablemedium, such as the static storage component 1008 or the disk drivecomponent 1010. In other embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be usedin place of or in combination with software instructions to implementthe present disclosure.

Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer toany medium that participates in providing instructions to the processor1004 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but notlimited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.In one embodiment, the computer readable medium is non-transitory. Invarious implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magneticdisks, such as the disk drive component 1010, volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as the system memory component 1006, andtransmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiberoptics, including wires that comprise the bus 1002. In one example,transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such asthose generated during radio wave and infrared data communications.

Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example,floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM,FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave, or anyother medium from which a computer is adapted to read. In oneembodiment, the computer readable media is non-transitory.

In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution ofinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may beperformed by the computer system 1000. In various other embodiments ofthe present disclosure, a plurality of the computer systems 1000 coupledby a communication link 1024 to the network 108 (e.g., such as a LAN,WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, includingtelecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may performinstruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordinationwith one another.

The computer system 1000 may transmit and receive messages, data,information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e.,application code) through the communication link 1024 and the networkinterface component 1012. The network interface component 1012 mayinclude an antenna, either separate or integrated, to enabletransmission and reception via the communication link 1024. Receivedprogram code may be executed by processor 1004 as received and/or storedin disk drive component 1010 or some other non-volatile storagecomponent for execution.

Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosuremay be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardwareand software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware componentsand/or software components set forth herein may be combined intocomposite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Where applicable,the various hardware components and/or software components set forthherein may be separated into sub-components comprising software,hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated thatsoftware components may be implemented as hardware components andvice-versa.

Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as programcode and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readablemediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may beimplemented using one or more general purpose or specific purposecomputers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Whereapplicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may bechanged, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-stepsto provide features described herein.

The foregoing disclosure is not intended to limit the present disclosureto the precise forms or particular fields of use disclosed. As such, itis contemplated that various alternate embodiments and/or modificationsto the present disclosure, whether explicitly described or impliedherein, are possible in light of the disclosure. Having thus describedembodiments of the present disclosure, persons of ordinary skill in theart will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a non-transitory memorystoring instructions; a display configured to display informationcomprising an image to a user of the system; and one or more hardwareprocessors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to readthe instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system toperform operations comprising: receiving a selection of a portion of theimage from the user through the display of the system; comparing arecognized pattern from the selected portion of the image to one or moreother stored patterns to determine if there is a match; identifying, inresponse to determining a match between the recognized pattern and astored pattern from the one or more patterns, contact information of arecipient associated with the stored pattern; and initiating a transferof data to the recipient based on the identified contact information. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:performing pattern recognition on the selected portion of the image toobtain the recognized pattern; prompting the user to confirm therecipient as a target for the data prior to initiating the transfer; andprompting the user to add a new entry to a contact information list inresponse to determining there is no match.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein the transferred data, upon receipt at a device that theidentified contact information directs data towards, activates anotification display of the device prompting a user of the device toaccept or decline the transferred data when the display of the device isaccessed.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a locationdetermination device configured to determine a location of the system,the operations further comprising narrowing the one or more other storedpatterns to a subset of stored patterns based on the determined locationof the system.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise: detecting, as part of the selection of the portion of theimage, a gesture from the user on the display; and identifying a gesturetype of the gesture as a first gesture type or a second gesture type,wherein, in response to the gesture type comprising the first gesturetype, the data comprises a first composition of data, and in response tothe gesture type comprising the second gesture type, the data comprisesa second composition of data, the first and second compositions of databeing different from each other.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein theselected portion of the image comprises at least one of: a face; a logo;or a textual graphic.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein: the selectionof the portion of the image comprises a plurality of portionscorresponding to a plurality of entities in the image, the comparingcomprises comparing a recognized pattern for each of the plurality ofportions to the one or more other stored patterns, the identifyingcomprises identifying contact information for a plurality of recipientscorresponding to the plurality of entities for which a match isdetermined, and the initiating comprises initiating a transfer to theplurality of recipients based on the identified contact information. 8.A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereonmachine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to performoperations comprising: receiving a selection of a portion of an imagedisplayed on a screen of the machine by the user; transmitting theselected portion of the image to a processing server, wherein thetransmitting the image to the processing server triggers the processingserver to compare a recognized pattern from the selected portion of theimage to one or more patterns to determine if there is a match;receiving, from the processing server, a message identifying whether amatch has been located between the recognized pattern and a matchingpattern from among the one or more patterns; and initiating a transferof data to a recipient identified by contact information associated withthe matching pattern.
 9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: performing, prior tothe transmitting, pattern recognition on the selected portion of theimage to obtain the recognized pattern; prompting the user to confirmthe recipient as a target for the data prior to initiating the transfer;and prompting the user to add a new entry to a contact information listin response to determining there is no match.
 10. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the transferred data, uponreceipt at a device that the identified contact information directs datatowards, activates a notification display of the device prompting a userof the device to accept or decline the transferred data when the displayof the device is accessed.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: determining,by a location determination device of the machine, a location of themachine; selecting an item of information to transfer as the data fromamong a plurality of items based on the determined location of themachine; and prompting the user to confirm or edit the item ofinformation before initiating the transfer.
 12. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the operations furthercomprise: providing, by an image detection device of the machine, a livestream of images to the screen for the selection by the user.
 13. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8, wherein theoperations further comprise: displaying a static image on the screen forthe selection by the user.
 14. The non-transitory machine-readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the data comprises at least one of: amonetary amount in payment; or an invoice identifying a monetary amountfor the recipient to pay.
 15. A method, comprising: receiving aselection of a portion of an image displayed on a screen of a mobilecommunications device; performing pattern recognition on the selectedportion of the image to obtain a recognized pattern; determining whetherthere is a match between the recognized pattern and one or more storedpatterns at the mobile communications device by comparing the recognizedpattern to the one or more other stored patterns; and initiating, inresponse to determining a match of the recognized pattern to a storedpattern from the one or more stored patterns, a transfer of data to arecipient identified by contact information associated with the matchingpattern.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: transmittingthe recognized pattern to a processing server in response to determiningthere is not a match between the recognized pattern and the one or morestored patterns at the mobile communications device, wherein thetransmitting the image to the processing server triggers the processingserver to compare the recognized pattern to one or more patterns at theprocessing server to determine if there is a match; and receiving, fromthe processing server, a message identifying the matching pattern as astored pattern from among the one or more patterns at the processingserver.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: prompting theuser to add a new entry to a contact information list in response todetermining there is no match.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein thetransferred data, upon receipt at a device that the identified contactinformation directs data towards, activates a notification display ofthe device prompting a user of the device to accept or decline thetransferred data when the display of the device is accessed.
 19. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising: determining, by a locationdetermination device of the mobile communications device, a location ofthe mobile communications device; narrowing, by the mobilecommunications device, the one or more other stored patterns to a subsetof stored patterns based on the determined location; and selecting, bythe mobile communications device, an item of information to transfer asthe data from among a plurality of items based on the determinedlocation of the machine.
 20. The method of claim 15, wherein theselected portion of the image comprises at least one of: a face; a logo;or a textual graphic.